


sure, i'll break one clumsy day

by bettercrazythanboring



Category: Morning Glories
Genre: Gen, Rescue Missions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-10
Updated: 2014-09-10
Packaged: 2018-02-16 22:38:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2286977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bettercrazythanboring/pseuds/bettercrazythanboring
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fortunato gets rescued.</p><p>(But is it really rescue, when Ike is there?)</p>
            </blockquote>





	sure, i'll break one clumsy day

**Author's Note:**

> Written before 40 came out, so diverges from canon a bit.
> 
> [Title.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhgVzAwiMsg)

There's no plan this time. No syncing up of watches, or intricately mapped whereabouts of everyone involved, or props stashed around the Academy beforehand. Their enemies have watched them, observed them, studied them like rats in a labyrinth; after so many elaborate missions—rescue and otherwise,  _successful_  and otherwise—to sniff out the cheese is expected. Now they climb over walls instead.

Everyone knows rescuing Fortunato is their objective, so they don't. They meet up in the library's soft spot to share childhood memories and exchange music in hushed tones over a great deal of ambient noise; they have Hunter "forget" little scribbles on his nightstand when the guards come to inspect their belongings; they almost succeed in getting Ike to leak what little he's overheard, before he makes a face and declares he's not getting in bed with the faculty again anytime soon.

("I would recommend a few  _excellent_  hand cream manufacturers to Gribbs and a budget lingerie site to that nurse who gave me absolutely  _zero_  bandages—not to mention a massage, or some fucking morphine—but, as I like my face quite where it is, I would prefer to do so by email, Casey. And before you go all ' _oh no, he's gonna betray us again_ ' or ' _we don't need him_ ', just know that my acquaintance with Miss Daramount yielded several juicy tidbits that may be of interest to you, and since you want to burn this goddamn place to the ground and I have  _actual_  experience with arson, plus a mighty desire for vengeance and a vested interested in talking to this fish kid about my father, let's drop the pretense that alliances require mutual affection, shall we? Though you're welcome in my bed any time.")

They swing by the basement sometimes with small excuses and curious eyes, as if casing it out—where exactly he is, how many guards there are, when their shifts change. But when it actually comes down to it—two days before they're supposed to be clandestinely breaking Fortunato out—Ian lets loose a tiny robot that slips under doors and jimmies the lock from inside, Casey tests out her apparent mind control abilities on a single guard stuck deep into some romance novel at his station, and the boy simply walks out while the rest are busy being suspicious elsewhere.

Stumbles, actually; and then has to be half-carried up and down about a billion flights of stairs because none of them had ever actually found out what had happened to him. They didn't account for this, and Ian almost suggests leaving him back in the cell because there's no way he's risking being put back in jail for the one who let Akiko almost  _die_ , but Casey shuts him up with a single look.

It takes a good half hour for the three of them to navigate the Academy's extensive labyrinth of basements, but in the end they do make it to a well-hidden wing on the other corner of the vast building, what used to house contractors or guards by the looks of it, and will heretofore be known as Fortunato's quarters—as well as those of anyone else in need of disappearance. Casey has to practically shove the food they've stashed there into his arms for him to pay any attention to it, hungry though he must be, but eventually he takes a bite. And another, and another, and then scarfs down the rest within minutes. Ian skidaddles back upstairs the moment they arrive.

A good while passes—several hours, probably—as they sit in awkward silence on the thin, woolen blankets of an old hospital bed, but it's all worth it when Vanessa peeks in through the doors, beams, and then tackles him in a hug that lands them both flat on it.

They all trickle in, one by one—or most of them anyway, because some need to stay behind for distraction purposes. Most are introductions, not reunions, in an unfortunate twist of fate, but all precede shock and concern over the bandages on his eyes—or, in Ike's case, a quip about Halloween approaching. The boy repeats, "I'm fine," more than anything else the entire night, which is an easy win because he barely says anything at all.

And then Jun comes in.

His mouth is frost, posture stiff, and even his clothes seem made of stone; no one is really sure why he's helped them with this in the first place, but the entire room falls to silence at Fortunato's expression when someone mentions his arrival.

"I am sorry, brother," he says almost immediately, turning to face the door. The boy says it with great care, as if the words have been planned and rehearsed for days. "I am sorry for him, Hisao. For your loss. For my role. Forgive me."

Jun's jaw steels. "I only have one brother," he replies, voice like thunder contained in a jar, "and you are not him."

Fortunato hesitates only briefly, lips curling inwards infinitesimally. Vanessa and Jade exchange glances. "I understand. But you must listen, Hisao, if there was any other way…"

"I am  _not_  Hisao." The words slice through the thick air like lightning.

And that must have been the boy's entire reason for coming down here—the long befuddlement on Fortunato's face—for as soon as it clears and morphs into slow despair, Jun turns and stomps out without another word. (Ike jerks and jumps aside from the door, arms stretching out to his right side with mocking gallantry as the Fukayama passes him.)

"He is… He is…" Fortunato's hands link in his lap. They pale; a recent cut on his finger resumes bleeding, harder now. The blood gathers at the wound and rolls down fingers no one in the room is strong enough to untangle. "Where is Hisao?"

Guillaume isn't here, and neither is Hunter, so there is no one to fill the silence before Vanessa swallows roughly and finally gains the courage to speak. "No longer with us," she whispers, voice thick with tears. "He sacrificed himself for his brother. I'm sorry."

His eyes are covered, and not actually there, but Casey can actually  _see_  life fade out of them somehow. "I… killed… Hisao?"

"You didn't kill anyone," Vanessa says, laying her hand atop his, still tightly twisted. "He  _chose_  to—  _Irina_  is the one at fault."

"Hisao is dead," Fortunato trembles out. On the other side, Casey awkwardly places her hand on his shoulder; Ike rolls his eyes and checks his watch. "Hisao is dead." His chin starts to wibble; his nostrils flare. One hand raises to the side of his face, and he leaves it there. "I deserve this, I deserve this," he starts to chant. "You should have left me. I deserved this. I deserve it all. Hisao is dead." The words come out muffled against his hand. "I never saw… I did not even see him here. I wanted… I wanted to—"

The words dissolve into Portuguese, too quick to understand even if anyone else spoke it. And his face scrunches up, and a sob escapes him, and then two darkened spots spread on his white bandages. Vanessa's arm winds around his shoulders, at a loss for words. They get wetter and wetter as the others watch; Andres hangs his head, not as much in mourning someone he didn't know as in support of his friend's anguish. (Jade turns her head away and hides it in one palm; Ike stares at her, a feet away, for no more than three seconds before his slowly outstretched fingers curl into fists, and his arms cross, and he leans against the door with an uncomfortable grunt.)

When the gauze has reached its limit, water starts dripping down Fortunato's cheeks and splotches on his bare, bruised knees. He may have been saying something—praying, perhaps—but all that comes out are unintelligible, shaky murmurs. Eventually, his head sags onto Vanessa's shoulder; she cries along with him.

"And Irina?" he asks at last, an eternity later. "What happened to her?"

"We don't know," Casey says, though she barely knows who Irina even is. "We'll figure it out," she promises, "but hey, listen, we kinda need to go."

"Whoa, whoa,  _go?_ " Ike asks. "I thought the whole point of this was to talk to him. You promised me a conversation with Luck Boy here, dear Casey."

She glares at him. "They don't even know he's missing yet, Ike. We need to be careful. Model students, remember? We agreed."

"Then what the hell did I just sit through ten minutes of him crying for?" he demands. "Which, by the way, was a very traumatic experience." He looks around the room. "What, am I seriously the only one disturbed by the fact that he  _specifically_  said his eye sockets have nada in them, and  _yet_ …?"

"Oh my god,  _shut up_ ," Jade mutters, a little red-eyed, and grabs him by the tie. "We're leaving," she tells Casey, "and you should probably wait a little while. This jackass is  _bound_  to get into at least one scuffle with a guard on the way up. Come on, dipshit," she announces and strolls out, yanking the tie behind her like a leash. He doesn't seem to mind.

"Fortunato," Vanessa says quietly, gently wiping his cheek with her thumb, "are you going to be all right? I'll come check up on you as soon as I can," she adds. "The others, too, I'm sure."

"I will be fine, sister," he assures, chin still quivering. "Akiko will keep me company, though I am not worthy of it."

Casey draws back to glance at Vanessa again, uncertain whether she's thinking of the right person. The other girl's frown mirrors her own. " _Akiko?_  She's in the hospital," Casey says. "She can't visit you; she's in a coma."

"She is in a lot more than that," he says, fingers pale and cold from the lack of circulation, "and she has much to tell you all."

**Author's Note:**

> DId you know that, according to Yuuhy, as long as Tuna's lacrimal glands are intact, he can still cry, despite not having eyeballs? THAT'S FUN. LOOK HOW MUCH FUN... WE ARE... HAVING...


End file.
